There is truly something absurd about foreign tourists who are living on visas in the United States taking advantage of the laws of freedom of speech in the United States in order to spew hate against Jews.
If you are in America on a student visa, and you're an aspiring young terrorist, who wants to prey upon your Jewish classmates, you're going home.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 11, 2025
We will arrest you and send you back to where you belong. pic.twitter.com/fHDVvIZc9l
It is not a new phenomenon that freedom of speech is used in order to call for heinous crimes. Absolutist proponents of freedom of speech often claim that the alternative to absolute freedom of speech is tyranny. They have a point, but they are also exaggerating. There is an absolute need for limits on freedom of speech, just like there must be limits on nearly every aspect of life. The alternative to life without limitations is chaos.
The true side of the argument to allow largely unbridled freedom of speech is that daylight is the best cure for hatred. Let the haters expose themselves and let the battles begin in the arena of speech. True. Silencing problematic opinions does not cure anything. It simply magnifies the frustration of those who believe in them. It is better for radicals to be drowned out via opposing views with clear-headed logic than to be silenced. Freedom of speech is indeed and rightfully one of the building blocks of the Western world and of American life since before the founding of the United States.
But there are threats that exist when lawbreakers and those calling for lawbreaking use this freedom to undercut nearly every aspect of American life. That is what is occurring today. The solution is to not to silence them. It is to enforce the laws that they are breaking. Organizing rallies and demonstrations are legal and positive. Breaking the law and calling for breaking the law has consequences.
Those who choose to exercise the option of breaking the law are within the range of what should be tolerated, but they should be punished in a reasonable manner. But tourists who are basically being allowed to live in a country on a trial level should not be treated with kid gloves if they threaten the welfare of others.
Mike Johnson is making a name for himself as a reasonable and down to earth Speaker of the House. He knows how to navigate between the demands of Donald Trump and keeping the thin Republican majority in tact. On this and so many other things, he is absolutely right.
There is room for mercy with some lawbreakers. But not with tourists who are utilizing the freedom of speech laws to destroy the values of the United States.